257 



should cause bloodshed — but when I first put them to- 

 gether the Barbet drove the Toucan away, and for the 

 remainder of the day they did not seem to take an}- 

 notice of each other — so I left them, thinking all was 

 well. Next morning I went into the bird room at half- 

 past six, to see if they were all right, and found the 

 Barbet on the ground, apparently dead. I took him out 

 and found that although insensible he was still living, 

 and that he had a wound on the top of his head larger 

 than a pea. I doctored him to the best of my ability, 

 but he remained unconscious until two o'clock, at which 

 time he half opened one eye and raised his head a little. 

 I took him up and put a quarter of a grape in his beak ; 

 he did not at first attempt to swallow it, but after a little 

 while he managed to get it down with a little assistance 

 from my finger and thumb. After that he gradually 

 picked up, and by six o'clock he was able to get on his 

 perch, though still in a very dazed condition, in which 

 he remained for a good many weeks. 



He is now as well as ever he was, which says a good 

 deal for his constitution. vS. M. Tow^nsend. 



A NOVEL DIRT FOR SOFT BILLS. 



Sir, — I feed my Pekin Nightingale principally on 

 bread and cream. I prepare it by pouring boiling water 

 over the bread and then squeezing it very dry and mixing 

 it with cream. All my soft-billed birds prefer this food to 

 any other. I have bought several other kinds of food, but 

 they wdll not touch it when the bread and cream is 

 about. I may say that all the birds fed in this way are 

 in splendid condition, and I have not lost a single one, 

 though I have kept them for many months. 



The Pekin always sleeps in a box at night with a 

 Brazilian Hangnest, of which he is ver}- fond. 



M. K. Baker. 



EPISCOPAL BIRDS. 

 Sir, — A clergyman, who knows nothing about foreign 

 birds, was being shown over my bird room one day in 



